MARC ELLISON became part of Irish Cup history earlier this week when he and CSNI team-mate Ashwin Hebbar broke the partnership record, adding 391 against Strabane.

He first appeared for the Stormont club in 2011, but it wasn’t a straightforward route to Belfast for the passionate music and sports fan.

“I was a professional in 2009 in Nottingham and originally came to Belfast because U2 were playing a concert at Croke Park and the flights were cheaper,” said Ellison.

“I struck up a relationship on that trip and things developed pretty quickly. I searched for a club here the following season and arrived at Saintfield. I had a pretty good year there and was recruited by CSNI for the 2011 campaign.

“I was due to return the following year but a change in the regulations by Cricket Ireland meant I couldn’t play as an overseas professional in Northern Ireland so I had to go to the Leinster League, playing with Malahide in 2012, but I didn’t enjoy it to the same extent as the NCU.

Marc returned to his native New Zealand with his family, but his then wife struggled to settle and was keen to return back home, doing so in August 2017 and has been with the club ever since, turning down lucrative offers to switch allegiances.

“There have been offers from other clubs but I have been about the game long enough to know good, genuine people when you meet them,” said the keen Tottenham fan.

“I was going through some difficult times with a divorce and the ex-Chairman Peter McMorran was there offering support as a person, and not solely concentrating on my value as a cricketer.

“It was a pretty volatile time in my life and Peter and other club members were really there for me when I needed them, and that’s one of the reasons for my loyalty. My kids had also formed personal relationships with club members, and Matthew Foster’s parents in particular have been incredibly supportive. You can’t put a price on that and I’m just so entrenched in the club now that I couldn’t envisage playing for anyone else.”

The ever-consistent Ellison has played 153 times for CSNI scoring 5710 runs, with an elite level average of 44.61. He has made 30 fifties and nine centuries, but it’s an innings in a losing cause that he rates as his most memorable.

“The unbeaten 139 against Waringstown in the 2018 final is a bittersweet one. I felt I got my approach close to perfect but we probably needed another 30 runs. Adam Dennison played an incredible innings to break the record held by his father, and we had the misfortune to lose Graeme McCarter after one over, taken to hospital. That final was a real missed opportunity for us.”

CSNI have been quietly rebuilding in recent years with one of the best crops of young talent in the region. Has the time come for them to genuinely challenge for silverware?

“I can see us competing but reckon we are probably a bowler or two light from challenging the very top two or three sides. Our batting unit is looking incredibly strong. We have a good professional in Ashwin Hebbar who has shown he can score quickly.

“There is no shortage of experience with Stuart Thompson and Andrew Cowden and the kids we have invested so much time in are starting to make real progress. James West at the top is scoring quickly, while Adam Leckey and Harry Dyer look more mature players benefitting from having played overseas in the winter.

“There’s also Jordan Neill who hasn’t played much for us the past year with international commitments and injury, so we have some real quality and depth. We are going to have to score a lot of runs as it looks as though the pitches are pretty good, and teams are playing an aggressive brand of cricket.”

Ellison was philosophical about achieving the Irish Cup record, but recognised the importance to the club.

“it was certainly great to set a record but realise it’s only a temporary number until someone will pass it. That said, it was an amazing experience. Watching ‘Ash’ and the way he goes about it, some of the shots he played, you’re just in awe of it. Definitely a memorable day for us and the club, but we want to be sure it’s not the only good day we have this season.”

On a day where high totals were the norm, the Senior Analytics Manager with global corporation Concentrix feels the balance of power in the local game has changed and he’d like to see it redressed.

“Playing white ball only there’s no longer the challenge the red ball provided where it used to swing and seam in the first 15-20 overs, meaning 200-250 was a pretty good total. Now it’s 300 plus and as we saw last week, 400 isn’t out of the question.

“I would like to see the game evened up a bit. Simon Corlett made some excellent observations about allowing ball tampering and I would be in favour of that to a degree. You’ve got to give bowlers a chance to get the ball to reverse swing as long as it’s legal – no bottle tops!

“That would give seam bowlers a better chance to come back at the death, not just be lambs to the slaughter for batters further aided by the fielding circle restrictions. We have got to find a way to get bowlers back in the game in these days of bigger bats, shorter boundaries and improving pitches.”

The former New Zealand U19 World Cup skipper played alongside contemporaries Tim Southee and Martin Guptill. He turns 40 this year, and would give the following advice to his younger self.

“Watch the ball. I know it sounds simplistic, but you just need to have clarity when the ball is released from the bowler’s hand. Secondly, try and find some enjoyment in your weekly routine when preparing for a match. It’s something I’ve only achieved in the last five years, when I’m analysing opposition attacks and planning where I’m going to score my runs.

“I use visualisation to improve my confidence on how I’m going to execute my game plan, and meditation, which I use to reset my nervous system. These would have served me well all those years ago.”

Family and personal circumstances meant the chance to represent Ireland never quite materialised. Four half centuries for the Northern Knights had him on the selectors radar, but with three young children to look after at the weekend following his divorce, it meant cricket had to be put on the backburner.

“My choice at the time was between playing cricket or seeing my children.

“That was a major disappointment not to have the chance, but I had to get over it and move on.

“Realistically though, I was in my early 30s, so maybe my time had gone. It’s tough to compete with full-time professionals when you’re working full-time, have a family and trying to juggle cricket too.

Now happily remarried with a two-year-old daughter and living in Jordanstown, Ellison has hit the ground running this season and it could well be a case of life beginning at 40 for the affable Kiwi.